BROOKFIELD – Milwaukee Wave players were jostling one another for the ball, going all out along the boards, pelting their goalkeepers and blasting monstrous shots off the walls and glass.

“Today’s a Monday, and usually Mondays we’re here just trying to get the legs going again from the weekend,” defender Tenzin Rampa, the team’s captain, said after practice. “But you saw it was an intense day on a Monday.

“That’s a sign of the guys and the character we’ve got on our team this year. Everybody comes ready to work every day. And it shows on game day.”

The Wave has played seven games this season — essentially one-third of its Major Arena Soccer League regular season — and has yet to lose.

Milwaukee’s 56 goals lead the league, and its plus-24 goal differential is second to only Monterrey.

Midfielder Ian Bennett leads the league in goals (15) and power-play goals (five), forward Max Ferdinand in assists (12) and forward Robert Renaud in points (19). Wave players rank among the top three in five of seven offensive categories as well as two on the defensive side.

And a lot of that correlates to practices such as Monday’s.

“We’ve just had a game plan since the beginning of the year and we’ve stuck to it,” defender Drew Ruggles said. “We’re a young and athletic team, and we use that to our benefit. We play a fast-paced game and we want the ball, and when we don’t we want to win it back as fast as possible.

“We’ve stuck to that and done that right through the season so far and it’s really paid off.”

It may have been too bold to predict the Wave would go this far without losing — especially with four of those games on the road — but no one seems all that surprised, either.

“To be honest, no,” midfielder Marcio Leite said. “I think with the quality we have and with the work we’re putting in at practice and the concentration and level of intensity, it’s definitely paying off.

“We’re doing all the right things here in practice and it’s paying off in the games and it’s giving us confidence to play in the games.”

Milwaukee returned the core of a team that finished 13-7 in the regular season last year before being eliminated by the eventual champion Baltimore Blast in the second round of the playoffs.

“We had a lot of new players last year, and by the end of the season I thought we were really jelling, playing well, so to have that unit back and to have that sour taste from losing a tight series in the playoffs, it drives our players,” coach Guiliano Oliviero said. "They’ve got a little bit of hunger as well to take it one step further this year.”

There's room for improvement on defense and for adjustments to be made, especially as opponents see Milwaukee more times. The Wave has been relatively healthy thus far; staying that way would be helpful.

“We’ve got a lot of depth,” Oliviero said. “If a guy goes down, we’ve got players coming into the lineup that can definitely do the job.

“(There’s) just a really good camaraderie amongst the team. The older guys are getting along with the younger guys and the guys in the lineup are taking care of the guys that aren’t in the lineup. It’s been a really good environment, not only on the game field but on the training field as well.”

Two of the Wave’s next three games are at home, Saturday vs. the St. Louis Ambush and Dec. 31 vs. the Kansas City Comets. The Ambush took the Wave to overtime last Saturday before falling, 4-3.

“To go on a run like seven wins in a row, you have to be focused,” Rampa said. “Now after this many games and the other teams have seen us play and they can be better prepared for us is when we need our focus, we have to pick it up a level.”